1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular seat such as a rear seat for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 10A to 10E are side views of a related vehicular seat. Specifically, a retractable rear seat 100 is shown as one example of a vehicular seat.
In FIG. 10A, a seat back 101 of the rear seat 100, which is in an in-use state, is folded down toward a seat cushion 102 as indicated by an arrow al, and a hook 105 provided on the seat cushion 102 is released from a hook retaining member 104 provided on a floor 103 side.
In FIG. 10B, a stay 106 is attached to the floor 103. A link 107 is rotatably attached to the stay 106 at one end thereof and it is also rotatably attached to a seat cushion 102 side at the other end of thereof. The folded seat 100 is rotated as indicated by an arrow b about the one end of the link 107, so that it is received in the floor 103. That is, the rear seat is put in a received state.
In FIG. 10C, the rear seat 100 in the received state is lifted up as indicated by an arrow c1 and then pulled as indicated by an arrow c2.
In FIG. 10D, the folded rear seat 100 is further lifted up as indicated by an arrow d and then lowered toward the hook retaining member 104, the hook 105 being hooked on the hook retaining member 104.
As shown in FIG. 10C, since the hook 105 is located below the seat cushion 102, the hook 105 is hard to be seen by an operator M, and therefore there is caused a risk in which the hook 105 is erroneously judged as being hooked on the hook retaining member 104 when the hook 105 is brought into abutment with the hook retaining member 104.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 10D, in view of the fact that an operation is carried out inside a vehicle (not shown), it is hard work to lift up the folded seat 100 as indicated by the arrow d when the hook 105 is tried to be hooked on the hook retaining member 104, and therefore it is desired that the hook 105 can be hooked on the hook retaining member 104 without the necessity of lifting up the rear seat 100.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 10E, since the folded rear seat 100 happens to abruptly spring back as indicated by an arrow c by virtue of the inertia of a vehicle (not shown), a fixing means (not shown) is needed to fix the seat cushion to the floor 103 side in the received state.
However, if a fixing means (not shown) is provided in order to prevent the folded rear seat 100 from springing back, the fixing means has to be released when the folded rear seat is returned from the received state to the in-use state, this providing inconvenience in utilization of the rear seat.
Work to return the folded rear seat 100 from the received state to the in-use state involves work to lift up the folded rear seat 100, and in view of the fact that such work is carried out inside the vehicle (not shown), it is desired that the rear seat be returned from the received state to the in-use state without carrying out any work such as work to release the fixing means.